


Smile

by KelekiahGaladrian



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 04:53:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9368795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KelekiahGaladrian/pseuds/KelekiahGaladrian
Summary: Lily and James gave him a gift. The Dursleys took it from him. Hogwarts found it. War destroyed it. Oneshot.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my 100 Themes challenge.
> 
> Originally written in May 2014.

The first time Harry giggled, warmth spread from James’s heart to his outer limbs. It was a joyous sound, something James wanted to always hear and to never forget. He spent hours trying to make his son laugh, anything from screwing around with Sirius and Remus to tickling the boy. There were days when Harry’s giggles could be heard echoing throughout the entire Potter house. To James’s delight, the young boy’s laughter brought a smile to Lily’s face, something that hadn’t often graced her features since their days at Hogwarts.

Harry didn’t only giggle. Whenever he saw his mother, father, godfather, or honorary uncles, his face always split into a huge grin, a smile reminiscent of James’s own when he’d been Harry’s age.

After he and Lily had gotten married, James had looked into getting a camera, something he took with him everywhere. It had been useful when trying to capture the bouncing ball of joy that was his son. James had hundreds of pictures of his son’s bright grin. When James needed a pick-me-up, he looked at those pictures and remembered that although war was dark, there was something good to be had, something bright to be remembered and to bring hope. Harry’s smile helped him through the darkest of times.

~*~

Petunia remembered the cool summer morning when she’d opened the front door of her house on Privet Drive and found a sleeping baby on her porch. She remembered the letter written on parchment with identification for the baby and instructions for what she was to do with him. She remembered the fear that had spread through her; she thought she’d gotten away from magic, but it had come back to haunt her. She remembered bringing the baby inside, waking him from his peaceful sleep. She remembered the emerald eyes that stared out of the one-year-old’s face, emerald eyes he shared with Petunia’s _witch_ sister. She remembered him wiggling out of the blankets he was wrapped in, black hair reminiscent of the stupid Potter boy that was his father. She remembered letting him run around the floor as she spoke to her husband about the boy’s new living arrangements. She remembered his scowl, his immediate hatred for the boy.

Petunia Dursley remembered all of these things very clearly, as though they’d happened only yesterday. But she didn’t let them affect her. She stood behind her husband’s decisions, no matter how cruel they may be. Of course her sister and the idiot Potter boy had to go and get themselves killed; of course they’d be left to raise her pathetic excuse for a son. She ignored their blood relation and treated the boy as she pleased. She, Vernon, and Dudley had made it known that he wasn’t wanted, that the fact that they’d kept him at all was a huge service to him, that it was his duty to accept this and do what he could for them. Oh yes. Petunia put the boy to work.

One of her favorite moments in dealing with the boy had been the day she’d wiped that disgusting smile off his face. It was shortly after he’d arrived on their doorstep. She’d roughly picked the boy up and shook him slightly. He’d gone from smiling to confused in an instant. She warned him that he would have no toys and that there would be no fun. She locked him up in the cupboard under the stairs. At first he’d cried, but every time she’d passed, Petunia would hit the door and yell at him. The boy hadn’t smiled since.

~*~

Minerva had not been pleased when Albus Dumbledore insisted they leave Harry Potter with the Dursleys, but she trusted his judgment and didn’t argue. She knew she’d see him in ten years when he arrived at Hogwarts. She only hoped she wouldn’t find a near-dead soul.

She was more than a little relieved when a small eleven-year-old boy with his mother’s emerald eyes and father’s messy black hair walked through the doors and stepped into the Entrance Hall. Although his eyes were a little dull, they held a spark of wonder. He hadn’t smiled yet, but as he looked around Hogwarts, his lips twitched.

She stood above the students, gave them her annual introductory speech, and then motioned them toward the Great Hall. As she turned, Minerva caught young Harry’s eyes. She allowed a small, but brief, smile to grace her face. Her soul warmed at the matching smile in Harry’s now-much-brighter expression.

~*~

Of all people, Harry Potter knew what it meant to fight a war. It steals from everyone. It takes what it wants and leaves nothing but destruction in its wake. Harry had suffered from both wars that Voldemort had inflicted upon the Wizarding World—and he’d lost a lot. Many of his friends had died, and what was left of his family was gone. Hogwarts was in ruins. Everywhere, people mourned.

Even though Voldemort was finally dead, try as he might, Harry couldn’t get himself to think toward a positive future. All the negativity he’d endured over the last few years weighed on him. It dragged him down. How could things get better when so much was already gone?

Ron and Hermione sat with him. Students and professors passed him by, each patting a shoulder or giving him an encouraging smile. But Harry couldn’t smile back. He didn’t feel the warmth of love and peace anymore. He was tired, so very tired. He closed his eyes and sighed.

Harry Potter would never smile again.


End file.
